The poor follow-through in managing the last stimulus package, of course, hardly inspires confidence in a new round of such spending.

FORBES: By Jeff Bailey

Now, he says, the economic challenges the country faces are so great that Barack Obama should take a lead role in getting a new stimulus package through the lame duck Congress.

NPR: To Face Economic Crisis, Obama Moves Quickly

The snag for the Republicans is that they will have to decide on whether or not to allow the stimulus package to go through long before it is clear whether any attempt to get to grips with budget reform will bear fruit.

ECONOMIST: America's stimulus plan

Mindful that recession may be coming, Democrats are now trying to boost spending on Medicaid, the government health scheme for the poor, by tacking on provisions to the big economic stimulus package wending its way through Congress.

ECONOMIST: Health care costs

Obama's plan is pretty clear: Push a stimulus package through Congress ASAP, and have it ready for the new president to sign on January 20.

CNN: Borger: Obama takes ownership of the economy

The 50% bonus depreciation provision was put in the tax code as a business gimme in the 2007 stimulus package, effective Jan. 1, 2008 through Dec. 31, 2012 (a repeat of a temporary break Congress used back in 2002).

FORBES: BigTax Break For Business Owners Buying Equipment, SUVs Expires Dec. 31.

If that were to be the case, Mr Greenspan suggested that the authorities might have to go beyond the conventional ways of stimulating the economy through monetary policy and fiscal policy (such as Mr Bush's stimulus package) and also look at further improving America's economic flexibility.

ECONOMIST: More discipline needed | The

And Chinese stocks all through the steel industry, from iron ore to finished goods, which were built up in the expectation of a bigger stimulus package than has yet materialised, are now being run down, amplifying the downward price swing.

ECONOMIST: Iron ore